E3 2017: The Nintendo Switch is On

The first official day of E3 2017 began with a 25-minute presentation by Nintendo, who announced a slew of titles including Metroid Prime 4, Fire Emblem Warriors, new Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC, the next installments in the Yoshi and Kirby franchises, a new Metroid game for the 3DS (which is actually a remake of Metroid 2), and a new core Pokemon RPG for the Switch. In addition, Rocket League will be releasing this holiday season for Nintendo's latest system, and will feature platform-specific content and cross-platform play, which is always a plus.

They also provided us with trailers for Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Arms, Splatoon 2, Pokken Tournament DX, and Super Mario Odyssey, which releases on Oct. 27, and features a variety of interesting environments for Mario to explore. Xenoblade 2 looked very interesting, and a bit impenetrable to anyone who hasn't played the first game in the series. Still, it's got good visuals, tried and true JRPG gameplay, nice music, and a seemingly decent (if a bit cliched) storyline. Meanwhile, Arms looked like a uniquely fun fighting game, while Splatoon 2 and Pokken Tournament delivered more thrills in their respective genres.

Now, I'm not exactly a Nintendo fanboy. I grew up loving Sega and their consoles and franchises just a bit more back in the day, and while Nintendo appealed to my inner child, I decided to go another direction through my formative years. The last Nintendo console I bought was a GameCube, after all. So I missed a lot of the Wii and Wii U offerings. After seeing their upcoming lineup, though, I'm intrigued by Nintendo's latest console, and I definitely want to play Zelda, Metroid, and Mario. The new Kirby and Yoshi look great, too, with their colorful aesthetics and 2.5D gameplay. This is real, skill-based gaming, and while they do trade a lot on nostalgia, I think it's easy to forget that Nintendo has a lot of experience creating games that deliver on their promise of fun, first and foremost.

Okay, bear with me a moment here. It's story time.

I remember a couple of years back, when Microsoft and 343 Industries began the marketing campaign for Halo 5: Guardians. That game sounded so cool and cinematic, and it looked so good. The play mechanics looked to be more refined, and the story sounded so interesting and dynamic and unexpected. "Master Chief was gonna be revealed as a traitor, and Cortana's death made him flip out? Whaaaaaat?" I thought, as I pored over every bit of new info regarding the game. I was so excited, in fact, that I bought an Xbox One just so I could play the game.

I bought into the hype. Hook, line, and sinker.

Then the game actually came out. Controls were great. Graphics were phenomenal. It felt like one of the best-playing games in the series. But what of that twisty, intriguing narrative that had us chasing the Chief down and discovering the truth behind his actions? What about the mystery behind Cortana's seeming resurrection? And what of the rivalry between Chief and the new protagonist, Locke?

Very little of that intrigue made it's way into the game, and what was there was confined to cut scenes that you watched passively. No interaction, just underdeveloped characters punching it out feebly during one short CG sequence.

I ended up selling my Xbox One.

Which brings me to the point of this digression: Nintendo may face criticism from some for being too beholden to nostalgia and their original characters, and perhaps for being stuck in the past with regard to not embracing "cinematic storytelling" and the cutting edge of technology. Here's the thing, though: they don't have to. Nintendo has been in the games industry since the beginning, they're the last man standing in the console market from those old days, and they have the most popular franchises and characters in all of gaming.

Nintendo is damn near bulletproof.

They've won E3 yet again, because they do this every year: they bring fun, mechanically sound experiences to life, and they do so joyfully. Everyone else brings us overwrought trailers with so-called cinematic production values and pre-rendered, obviously staged gameplay demos. Nintendo says three words, "Metroid Prime 4," and the internet erupts. That's because they know talk is cheap, and gameplay is king.

Hail to the king, baby.

I'll be picking up a Switch as soon as possible.